Mahdzir Khalid Barisan Nasional (UMNO) Azizan Abdul Razak Pakatan Rakyat (PAS) The 12th Kedah state election was held on 8 March 2008.

In a historic result, the incumbent government from Barisan Nasional (BN) was handed an unprecedented and shocking defeat by the opposition, the first time Kedah's ruling party from BN or is predecessor Alliance Party was voted out of power since the start of the state elections in 1955.

As the party with the most seats in the winning DAP-PAS-PKR coalition, PAS has the priority in choosing the new Menteri Besar.

Azizan Abdul Razak, the PAS Kedah Commissioner and MLA for Sungai Limau, was selected by the coalition to be its candidate, and were sworn in on the next day, in front of the Sultan of Kedah.

[2][3] The sole independent candidate who won the Bukit Selambau seat, V. Arumugam joined PKR days after the election, bringing the PKR MLAs to 5 and total MLA in the DAP-PAS-PKR coalition to 22.